BIGSSS-departs Ph.D. Fellow, Cohort 2017

Research Interests

I am interested in doing research about global governance, regulatory coordination and social outcomes of international trade and foreign diplomacy. I attend to strategic behaviors employed by the stake-holding actors, including work on governance tactics, legislative instruments, and the role that constitutional characteristics and contemporary industrial relations play in shaping these strategies.

During the doctoral study at BIGSSS, under the umbrella term of global governance, I conduct research on the trajectories of social and human rights commitment and compliance along global supply chains of labor-intensive products and explore cases of cooperation and coordination among governments, and between state and non-state actors in the Global South context.

Additionally, I am keen on learning about the prospects of digital transformation for the future of work, the application of artificial intelligence in improving working conditions and labor standards in low-income countries; and most importantly, the social pillar within global sustainability commitment and implementation.

Dissertation topic
Global Governance of Labor Standards – External Pressures, Domestic Forces and Intervening Processes to Labor Outcomes in the Global South Countries

Dissertation abstract
The push for decent social rights and working standards along global supply chains has resurfaced among spheres of policymaking amid global commitment to sustainability and free trade era in Western countries with developing countries. Nevertheless, researchers remain uncertain about the possible extent of social upgrading and labor progress through trade, particularly among low-income and export-dependent nations. Despite the wealth of literature on the labor topics, gaps remain in understanding whether external labor intervention matters and who have played the key role shaping labor policy reforms in specific Global South experiences. This dissertation examines these aspects through the lenses of actor-centred institutionalism and international relations theories, focusing on domestic forces and external pressures as the main influences on state preferences and decisions. Domestic forces are embedded structural conditions attributed by labor unrest and labor advocacy among the workers and the reformists. External pressures involve those temporal yet strategic pro-labor intervention through binding commitments in free trade agreements and multilateral labor funding programs, driven by powerful trading partners and international organizations. The study focuses on Bangladesh and Vietnam, uncovering patterns of state responses to pressures from the EU and US. The dissertation seeks to provide within and cross-case evidence through process tracing case study, highlighting the triggering role of external pressures promoting labor commitment and compliance. It utilizes heterogeneous data sets, including national archives, media coverage, meeting minutes from 2003 to 2023, and primary data from expert interviews conducted during fieldwork in 2018 and 2019. The work limits its discussion to the topic of minimum wage, safety at work and freedom of association.

Academic Supervisors
Susanne K. Schmidt
Werner Eichhorst